Bulgaria's mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market will reach 750 million euro ($946.7 million) by the end of 2012, research outfit DealWatch said.
About 100-120 M&A deals are expected to be wrapped up in the Southeast European country by the end of the year, Cvetan Kyulanov, global head of M&A Database at DealWatch, told a news conference, presenting a report on the M&A market in central and Eastern Europe prepared jointly by DealWatch and UK-based law firm CMS Cameron McKenna.
According to the report, Bulgaria's M&A market rose by 62.3% to 1.2 billion euro in 2011, as a total of 120 deals were sealed.
In the first half of 2012, Bulgaria's M&A market shrank to 194 million euro from 963 million euro a year earlier, as the number of deals fell by 24% to 45, according to DealWatch estimates.
DealWatch is the M&A and Equity Capital Market research arm of business information provider ISI Emerging Markets.